Murder He Rewrote
by seilleanmor
Summary: A requested fic for alwaysdefectivecastle. What would have happened in the Hamptons if a dead man hadn't fallen into the pool?
1. Chapter 1

**Prompt: **_Would you be up to the task of writing an almost M rated, T rated version of "Murder He Wrote" with all of the caskett scenes in the episode, minus the murder? As if the guy had never fallen into the pool. Just take out the case scenes and extend the casket scenes._

* * *

_For alwaysdefectivecastle_

* * *

**Murder He Rewrote**

* * *

Kate watches the drag of the clock's second hand around its circumference, the slow crawl towards five o'clock and a long, languorous weekend away. And it's utterly ridiculous how conspicuous she's being - the damn animation takes up the entirety of her computer monitor; anyone who walks past her desk will see it - but she just can't push it back.

All day, she's battled so hard not to blurt out something that will clue in the guys as to who her mysterious boyfriend is. Now that she's so close, the excitement fizzes low in her guts, so effervescent that every time she opens her mouth she worries that it will just spill out of her. And okay, yes, there's also a fair amount of terror. Her first vacation with Castle. Even if it is only a weekend at his Hamptons home, it's their first test since they started doing this. There's a sort of thick desperation that sits sluggish in her stomach, threatening to pull her under every time she lets herself think about it.

She has to get this right. _They_ have to.

Sure, he's stuck by her through bullets and boyfriends and a year of lies, but they've never been grocery shopping together. In the summer, when his mother and daughter were still in Europe and Kate was still on suspension, they were able to spend long, blissfully uninterrupted days together. But that was different, that was about learning each other's bodies.

He never pushed her to be domestic, never asked for more than she could give. And now he _is_ asking. A couple of weeks ago, he had stroked his fingers down the ladder of her spine absent-mindedly and spread his palm over her skin, brushing his lips to hers as he gathered the courage to speak.

_Can I take you away?_

She had grinned up at him, returned his kiss in force and agreed before he even offered any details. She trusts him, trusts that he knows how important these next few months are if she's going to win back her captain's good graces. Had known even before he spoke that he wasn't thinking out of the country, probably not even out of state.

But when he'd told her he wanted to go to the Hamptons her heart had kicked violently against the cage of her ribs, her throat closing at the memories of that terrible summer. Not that it matters anymore, not with the tender smiles he had given her as he described the beach, the pool, the gorgeous little harbour town nearby.

This weekend will be good, will help negate the heartbreak of watching him walk away. Kate's fingers twitch against the computer mouse and she sucks in a breath, her mouth slowly parting in anticipation.

"T-minus one minute and counting." Castle's voice right in her ear sends a jolt zipping through her and she has to give herself half a second to wait for the ripples of adrenaline to subside before she can turn to face him.

Leaning in as close as she dares in the precinct, Kate keeps her voice low. Not that that means it's any less threatening. "Castle, what are you doing here? You were supposed to wait around the corner so that nobody could see us."

"I know, but I thought it would be fun to be here with you when the clock strikes five." Kate has to stitch her mouth into a seam at that to stop the cracking grin. Ridiculous, sweet man and his romantic notions. "You know, just like New Year's Eve except without the kissing for obvious reasons, but there will be plenty of that this weekend."

His voice trails off into a breathy whisper that stirs things in her gut she really wishes it weren't so difficult to ignore. Instead, she channels her frustration at him. "Can you just _shush_?"

"No one is going to hear me. Look around you, you are in a room full of detectives and not one of them has a clue."

Oh God, that just _hurts_. Obviously she knows what's at stake here, how important it is to keep their relationship a secret, but even so, it doesn't exactly feel great. "Wow Castle, thank you for reminding me that I'm lying to a bunch of people that I really care about so I don't get fired on an ethics violation because I'm dating you."

"Well you can put all that out of your mind in three, two, one. . .no murder. There, wasn't that fun?" Kate turns a glare over her shoulder to meet his smile and he sighs, nudges his chair back just a little. "Okay fine, I will go and no one will even know I was-"

"Hey Castle." Ryan's voice slices through the end of his sentence. Castle's eyes widen and he freezes, gaze darting to her for help.

"What'chu doin here bro?" Esposito joins in, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. All day, Javi has been needling her about her boyfriend and does Castle know about the guy, is he upset? In fact, the detective had cornered Kate in the break room at lunchtime and asked her what the hell she thinks she's doing, stringing Castle along like this. Does she not think he's waited long enough for her to give him a chance?

She almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, at how Esposito thinks she could possibly be dating anyone apart from Rick. He's not exactly great at hiding his emotions; he'd be moping around like a kicked puppy if she were with someone else.

Right now, though, Kate has to admit that she's impressed. Castle flounders for barely a second before excuses are tripping off of his tongue. "I was just on my way to the Hamptons to write for the weekend when I thought I'd drop by, see if we caught a murder."

"Wow, anything to avoid writing, huh?" Kate throws back at him, eyes sliding over to glance at the boys and check that they're buying it before coming back to settle on him.

"Exactly."

"Hey, did you hear about Beckett's weekend?" Espo says, and the first tendrils of paralytic fear begin to wrap themselves around Kate's bones.

Castle levels her with a look, his face carefully neutral. "No, big plans?"

"She's going away with her _boyfriend_." Ryan crows, face stretched into a delighted smile.

"A _boyfriend_? Beckett, really? Who is the lucky guy?"

Oh jeez, seriously Castle? Fine, she understands that his questions are part of their cover. She also sees just how much enjoyment he's getting out of watching her squirm, how he's probing her to say something about _him_. Not a chance in hell is she going to shower him with compliments under the guise of talking about some mystery man.

"For some reason she's not telling." Esposito says, frowning again and shifting his weight.

Kate turns to level Ryan and Espo with an icy glare, decidedly not looking at Castle. She really doesn't need to see his face right now. "Okay, seriously guys?"

"Actually I for one am offended you're not sharing with us." Castle says and oh come _on_. This is just not fair. As soon as she gets him alone she is going to kill him. Forget their romantic weekend; forget all the things he's been telling her all week that he can't wait to do to her.

He does not get to embarrass her like this and then also have sex with her.

"After all we've been through."

Esposito nods at his partner before levelling a gaze on Kate that sears right through her. "Yeah, I think we deserve better."

"You know, I have a couple ideas about what you guys deserve."

Ryan leans back against the desk behind him, frowning at her. "Come on Beckett, just give us something. Is he handsome?"

Castle's head snaps up and his gaze meets hers, intense and curious. "Yeah, is he handsome?"

Kate swallows her smirk, choosing instead to raise her eyebrows at him and watch the work of his throat. Good, so he sees just how pissed off she is. A part of her, a huge part, kind of enjoys when he annoys her, if only for the multitude of ways he tries to make it up to her afterward.

"Or is he more of a badass?" Esposito asks, and suddenly she can't take any more of this. She grits out a sigh and moves off towards the break room where she hung her jacket, ignoring Castle's voice entirely as he prattles on behind her.

"Yeah, is that it Beckett? Is he a bad boy? James Dean, huh, is he a desperado?" Kate watches from the break room window as he leans back against the wall for a moment, turning his laughter to meet the stern faces of Ryan and Esposito. "I'm gonna-" Castle gestures towards the elevator and then moves off.

She watches him step inside the elevator car and pull out his phone, the doors closing on the slide of his smirk across his face. A moment later, her own cell phone vibrates in her pocket and she tugs it free, rolling her eyes at his message.

_Hey gorgeous, car's around the corner. I'll wait for you there._

God damn it, she's smiling in spite of herself. It's a little sleazy, sure, but she can see the sincerity in his words underneath layers of leering. He really does think that she's gorgeous, and when he lets his whole face go slack with it and presses his mouth to her skin she can almost believe it herself.

And this weekend there's no precinct, no Alexis and Martha. No reason for him to do anything except wrap her up in his words.

* * *

Kate slides into the passenger seat and drops her bag into the back of his car, leaning over the centre console to push her mouth to his. It's a little brutal, her taste sharp with annoyance until he works his tongue along the seam of her lips and slicks inside where she's warm and sweet.

"I'm sorry about that." He says into their kiss, pulling away from her to put the car into drive and pull away from the curb.

Sure, he'd like to sit here all day and just kiss her, but when they get to the Hamptons they can do a whole lot more than just kissing, and with no danger of being seen. You could say that he's in a hurry, sure. He glances over to see her chewing at her bottom lip and watching him carefully.

"You wanted to drive, huh?" He raises an eyebrow at her, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel and letting the delight overflow into his body so he can't help but wriggle a little in his seat.

Kate huffs at him, shaking her head and shifting in the seat to face forward. "Nope. I'm on vacation, you can do the driving."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He watches the lift of her shoulders in his peripheral vision, keeping most of his attention focused on the flow of traffic around them. She's letting him drive and he is absolutely not going to screw it up.

She's got her feet pulled up onto the seat now, her chin resting against them, but when Castle nudges lightly at her knee she lets herself tilt sideways and offers a grin up to him. The vulnerability ebbing away in the face of sudden determination.

"I hate lying to them. And I hate lying. . .about you. I'm not ashamed to be with you, Castle. But that's what it feels like every time I have to make up some mystery guy."

"I know you're not ashamed. You just want to protect our partnership, right? Same as me." Rick shrugs, easing out into the right lane. Once the car is safely swept up in the flow of traffic he curls his hand around the apex of her knee and circles his thumb at her thigh, keeping his gaze carefully focused on the car in front.

She can have the space to be free from his scrutiny and no more. Not right now.

Kate's hand comes to settle on top of his, her fingers slipping into the gaps between his own. Her hands are always colder than his and he delights in the shock of it, tremors every time she touches him.

"A part of me feels like it's stupid to keep it from them, though. You know? They wouldn't run and tell Gates." Kate murmurs, her eyes slipping closed as fissures crack open in her forehead.

"Yeah, I know. But can they keep it a secret from everyone else?"

Castle takes his hand back to join the highway, sitting back a little in his seat once they're there. He opens up the playlist he made for the drive on his phone and plugs it into the jack, hitting play and letting the music swell into the quiet spaces.

It pushes against the glass, thick and viscous in their little amniotic bubble, and something about it seems to help Kate. Her body turns liquid in the seat and she sets her cheek against the headrest, her whole body turned to watch him.

"I feel so _stupid_ not telling the guys. This is a big deal, right? We're six months into this thing and the rest of our team has no idea."

"I see what you mean. But Kate, let's let it go for this weekend, hmm? Just relax, not think about the city. And then on Monday we can talk about what we want to do." He glances at her, sees the pensive set to her face.

She bites her lip, nods at him. "Yeah. Let's not ruin the weekend before it even starts, huh?"

"Right." He offers her a breathy laugh for that and she grins back, slipping her shoes off and dropping them in the footwell. Kate rolls her shoulders to stretch them out, shifting around to watch the blurred canvas of colours slip past them. Already, he's falling stupidly in love with vacation Kate.

They had a summer, but it's not the same. Now she gets to totally relax, to enjoy their weekend together. There's so much, so much that he wants to show her and experience with her. Right now, he's kind of desperate to get out of the car so he can touch her, kiss her, feel the way she lets her body sink into his and nuzzles at his neck.

Castle lets his mind wander, the whole span of their weekend morphing slowly into the rest of their lives together as he dwells on it. The exit comes up almost without warning and Castle pulls off the highway, looks over to see Kate just starting to stir.

"Hey, not long now."

Kate blinks at him, a barely-awake smile just flirting at the corners of her mouth. "Sorry I fell asleep on you."

"It's okay." He grins, making his eyebrows dance just to draw a laugh from her. "Just having you here is fuel enough for my fantasies."

"I didn't think you fantasised so much anymore. Not now you have the real thing."

"Not those kinds of fantasies." He says quietly, shifting his gaze back to focus on the road. Not a chance in hell that he'll tell her he was picturing her coming towards him on her father's arm, so vivid he could almost feel the choke of the bowtie around his throat.

She murmurs something he doesn't catch, sipping from a bottle of water and watching the violent splashes of colour that seem to come right up against the car windows and spill inside, dappled light laying over Kate's thighs.

"I win." Kate crows, pressing her skull back against the headrest and beaming at him. He shoots her a puzzled look and she laughs, shaking her head. "Spotted the ocean before you did."

"That's not fair." He squeaks, sending her shards of a glare in between watching the road. "I didn't know we were making a game of it."

Kate reaches over to pat his thigh in an approximation of comfort, that sly little smirk still laid bare on her face. "It's okay, Castle. Maybe I'll let you win something else later."

"Like your heart?" He says, the words not even making contact with his brain before they're tripping off his tongue.

Bracing for panic or a total shutdown, he hardly even dares glance at her. But then Kate covers his hand at the wheel with her own and squeezes softly, stretching outside of the confinement of the seatbelt to skate her mouth over his cheek.

"You won that a long time ago."

"Sap." He fires back, even as tendrils of warmth unfurl themselves along his spine. It's always so beautiful when she does this, gives him back exactly what he needs from her.

Kate's mouth opens as if she's going to argue and he cuts her off, nudging at her shoulder. "Look."

He slides the car through the gate and pulls right up to the front door, cutting the engine and stepping out. Kate stays in the car and he grins, takes the opportunity to play the gentleman and open her door for her. Huge eyes, rich and teeming with life in the pale moon of her face and her mouth ripe and inviting, Kate stares up at the facade of his home.

"Here we are."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to Jeanne (half0utloud on tumblr) for the gorgeous cover art. I posted the playlist that Castle made for their drive out to the Hamptons on 8tracks, I'm seilleanmor on there. I'm hoping to get this done before Valkyrie airs, but no promises. TMC, y'all are the only kind of infamous internet cult I'd ever want to be a part of.**

**Tumblr:** katiehoughton

**Twitter:** seilleanmor


	2. Chapter 2

**Murder He Rewrote**

* * *

Wow.

Okay. Castle's house is. . .incredible.

A whole lot bigger than she was imagining, but then it's Richard Castle. He's extravagant, she knows yet, and still the shock of it has her moving, stepping out of the car and a little way down the drive. It takes considerable effort not to let the intimidation drip too heavily into her voice. "Oh my goodness, Castle, _wow_."

"So, you rich or something?" Kate turns back over her shoulder to grin at him, lift an eyebrow in teasing.

"Well I'm not James Patterson rich but I do okay." He says, quiet and reassuring. "Come on, I'll show you around."

He moves towards the front door and Kate takes a moment to push it back, all of it, her gaze flitting over this unbelievable house again. She can't help but picture Gina's reaction to it, the hordes of other women she doesn't even know about.

And yeah, okay, he's not that guy anymore. He loves her, and only her, and she has no doubts about that. How could she? Not with the way he looks at her, the way he seems constantly drawn in by her presence, soft touches to affirm that the warmth of her body next to his is not an illusion.

So it's fine. She can push it back.

Castle opens the door and ushers her in ahead of him, coming up behind her with his hands hot at her hips and his mouth seeking out the pale swathes of skin at her neck. "You want to get something to drink first?"

"Mm, yeah. Thanks." Kate turns to meet his mouth over her shoulder, letting him guide her to the kitchen with the insistent weight of his body coming up against hers.

His kitchen is gorgeous, of course. She never expected anything less, and yet it still takes her breath away. Just absolutely stunning, and she can see herself here. Years from now, cooking breakfast for her family and gathering a warm, squirmy little body in her arms to press kisses to plump cheeks.

Not that they're anywhere close to even talking about that yet.

"Red okay?" He asks, brandishing a bottle of wine in one hand and a corkscrew in the other. Now that she's looking, she sees the bowl at the island overflowing with fruit, fresh bread cooling on a rack at the stove.

She raises an eyebrow and comes for him, lacing her hands low around his hips and kissing the dip of his chin. "Where'd all of this food come from?"

"Ah, my housekeeper. Alice. I just asked her to open some windows and make sure the AC was working but she always does this anyway. Even when I remind her she's not obligated to." He shrugs, opening the refrigerator to show her shelves spilling over with produce.

"Huh. . .red's good."

He opens the bottle and pours a glass for each of them, handing hers over and taking her other hand in his own. She lets herself get tugged up against his side, meets his mouth with hers. Only meaning to let him taste her gratitude, but Castle's tongue is insistent and she lets him sweep inside, curling her fingers at his jaw and taking her sweet time in breaking their kiss.

"So a housekeeper, huh?"

"Yeah. She's pretty excited about the prospect of me bringing you up here." Castle grins, nudging at her with his elbow and leading her towards the staircase. "Said she couldn't wait to meet the woman who made me grow up."

Kate can't help but laugh at that, glancing back to shake her head as he trails her up the stairs. "I didn't _make _you do anything."

"Sure you did. You made me want to be the kind of guy who could be worthy of you." He shrugs, self-deprecating, but she watches the leak of uncertainty into his eyes.

Castle reaches the top of the stairs and tugs her down the hallway into a huge room. The bed looks stunning, sinfully comfortable, and the sliding glass doors open out onto a balcony and give a straight view down to where the ocean kisses the sky.

It would be beautiful in a storm, Kate can't help but think. To curl up in bed with hot cocoa and the warmth of Castle's body, watch the bleed of violent purple-black clouds into the ocean, how it would roil in protest. Lightening forking like tributaries in the bruised landscape of sky.

"Wow. Nice view."

"Yeah." Castle unlocks the balcony door and steps out onto it, encasing her hand in his own to tug her out after him. "Sometimes it feels a shame to waste it on the guest room."

"This isn't the master?"

He laughs, dusts his mouth to her cheek and encloses her body with his own, the both of them leaning against the railing. "No, it's downstairs. I've thought about switching them before, but I like it being out of the way. More private."

His eyebrows dance and it sends a spike of horror through her gut. Because she knows exactly what kind of privacy he means, and she knows he's remembering someone _not her_ with whom he utilised it.

"Right." Kate turns in the circle of his arms to lean back against the balustrade and settle her palm over his heart. "And for the record, you've always been worthy of me. I'm the one who took forever to be ready, aren't I?"

He kisses her for that, soft and somnolent until her knees give and she sags against him. "Was worth every second to get to have this now."

Finding she can't do more than smile at him for that, Kate settles her forehead at his chin and takes a moment just to breathe him in, appreciate the rich swell of their history in the negative space between their bodies. "Come on then, show me the rest."

* * *

"After I finished remodelling the kitchen I swore I was done, but then my designer called, she said I had to tie in the living room so I did that too, and that led to the second floor." Castle says, following Kate down the staircase. God, could he be more mundane?

It's just that he's so excited to have her here, finally, and all of his nervous energy is manifesting in the form of pointless trivia about his home. He strides through the living room and realises that he's lost her, takes a stumbling step backward to see her swaying in the hall.

Looking for all the world like she wants to get in the car and go back to the city.

"You coming?"

"Yeah." She manages a smile and follows him through the sliding door and down the porch steps.

Castle strides off across the grass, his mouth still running almost entirely without his conscious permission. "This is actually my favourite part. The sound of the ocean, complete privacy, the serenity. The pool is right down here. Most people find it magical, there's-"

He cuts himself off at the sight of Kate still standing by the steps, tall and gorgeous and lonely. God, he's screwed this up already and they've barely been here a half hour.

"Everything okay?"

Kate's gaze flicks to his face and she manages a smile, thin and fragile-looking but it does help to ease the thickness in his chest. "Yeah. It's. . .spectacular, Castle."

"And is that a problem?" Castle moves back, his body helplessly drawn towards her. She doesn't acknowledge the same beliefs that he does, about destiny and fortune, but in the flood of late afternoon light across the grass he could swear he sees the red string of fate stretched taut between them.

They've always been working towards this. His whole life, it sometimes feels like. And to see her now, the foundations of her belief in them fissuring just as fast as he tries to clutch at her, hold her together. . .it kills him.

Kate meets his eyes, uncertainty speckling through her own as she watches him. "It's just I can't help wondering how many other girls have gotten this tour."

Oh Kate. Kate, love, no. That's not what he's trying to do with this. It's just so inconceivable that any of the other women he's brought out here could even come close to the brilliant beauty, the compassion and the humour of Kate. And really, who? Gina and Meredith and a woman he actually met out here during one summer? They're nothing. Not compared to her.

"Right. Well, I'm not going to deny that I've brought other women up here, but uh-" Castle peels her hand away from her wine glass and cradles it in his own, hopes she doesn't feel the thunder of his pulse as he searches desperately for the right words. "None of them were you."

Kate glances up from their hands to meet his eyes and he manages a smile for her, heart leaping when she returns it. And sure, it's like looking at his reflection in a pond, the expression echoed back at him watery and thin, but it's okay. He's got all weekend to convince her.

She leans back a little as if she's testing the strength of his grip. "You want to go and check out that pool, yeah?" Kate gives this soft laugh that makes him burn to haul her up against his chest and paint her mouth with his own, take her kisses and swallow the quiet moans she always gives him.

Instead, he turns around and leads her off, Kate letting go of his hand to curl her fingers at the inside of his elbow. Her touch is cool and gorgeous and it keeps her buoyant next to him, her grin glinting in his peripheral vision.

Castle opens the gate and nudges her in ahead of him, grateful that he thought to have Alice's husband Geoff uncover the pool. The first impression that Kate gets is of the pool at its full potential, the water clear and vibrant and the terracotta paving around it warm with sunlight, seeming as if the very act of soaking it up has turned it a burnished copper.

The pool might be his favourite part of the whole house. And the only time he loves it better than this is at night. "I was thinking we could get dinner and then wait a while to let the food settle before we swim, if that's okay with you."

"You want to swim in the dark?"

He leans in to press his mouth to her raised eyebrow, slip down to catch the thin skin of her eyelid between his teeth. "Pool lights, Kate. And it's heated."

"Mm, okay." She lifts her chin to get her mouth against his, their kiss crumbling around her smile. "Yeah. Feed me, and then swim."

* * *

He makes her sit at the counter.

Kate was sort of expecting him to order takeout tonight, but apparently he's going to cook. And she's not allowed to help. He won't tell her what he's making, either, says it's a surprise. The way he was carrying on she'd half expected him to banish her entirely, but he keeps coming back for these soft touches of his mouth to hers, fingertips just brushing her shoulders as he moves past.

"You're sure you don't want me to help?"

He huffs at her, his head deep inside the refrigerator as he rummages for ingredients. "I'm sure. You're on vacation, just relax."

"You're on vacation too, aren't you?" Kate says, drumming the fingers of one hand against the countertop as her other curls around her wine glass. She presses her mouth into a seam and watches him nudge the refrigerator door shut with his shoulder, dropping everything he gathered onto the counter.

"Yes. But you work so hard. Let me do this for you, please."

Kate slips off of the bar stool and moves to lean against the counter instead, close enough now that she can smooth over the inky lines of his veins with her thumb, the skin of his wrist so soft she could just sink into it. "I know you want to do things for me. I get that. But I want this to be a vacation for both of us, okay?"

"Okay."

"And for the record, cooking does help me relax. I just don't do it often because it feels like a waste of time just cooking for myself."

She shrugs like it doesn't matter, but the memories of lonely nights eating dinner on the couch by herself and craving Castle's warmth suck at her, threaten to tug her down to the sweet inevitability of drowning.

Of course he sees, but he doesn't comment further than to bring her in against his chest for a crushing hug and settle his mouth at her crown. "Would you chop the vegetables?"

"Sure."

* * *

Kate doesn't let him watch her change into her bathing suit, coming back from the bathroom with a robe closed tight around the lithe lines of her body.

"Why so secretive, Beckett?" He leers, coming in to bracket her hips in his palms and taste her mouth. She opens underneath him, ripe and gorgeous, and he tastes the richness of the wine they had with dinner as her tongue slicks over his.

Stepping back, he could swear she puts an extra sway into her hips just to mess with him as she disappears through the sliding door and onto the terrace. Castle trips after her, stumbling over the doorframe and almost colliding with her where she waits for him.

She shakes her head, already laughing at him, but even as she does she's taking his hand and coming in close. Still, even now, he's so completely enthralled by her body. How breathtaking she is, the stretch of her against his sheets just as mystifying as right here, mostly covered.

How he got so lucky he tries not to dwell on, if only because Kate hates to see him brooding.

"I still have to surprise you some of the time." She murmurs, letting him bring them to a halt. The sky is like velvet out here, pinpricked with tiny points of light that seem to dust her with their brilliance so she's ethereal, a goddess.

Tongue a thick and mostly useless thing in his mouth, Castle has to force the words past his lips. She does this to him, ties him up in knots. It's almost paradoxical, how she can make him more comfortable than any other person he's ever known and yet also reduce him to a bumbling idiot.

"You surprise me all the time."

Her cheeks flush at that, a wash of delicate pink that creeps up the base of her throat as well, has her burying her face against his neck to hide it. When she pulls back the planes of her face are softer, even with the cold touch of moonlight to her skin.

"Let's swim, hm?"

Okay, Kate, he gets it. Not ready for a total outpouring of his heart. He can rein it in, that's fine. Just so long as she stays.

"I'm sure you will find the temperature suitable, but if you would like it any warmer I could change the temperature or I could just stop talking-" Castle trails off, completely dumbstruck by the woman in front of him.

Standing tall, robe pooled around her feet and her body absolutely, gloriously naked. He doesn't know where to look first, the proud flare of her breasts or the powerful length of her legs or the sacrosanct place between her thighs. And honestly, it's not like he hasn't seen it all before, touched and tasted and discovered for his own.

But here she is, straight-laced Detective Beckett, and she wants to go skinny dipping.

"You forgot your suit." He grins, tries desperately not to leer. It takes him a moment to place the emotion crawling up his spine, and then it hits him. Reverence. How he wants to worship at the font of Kate's body.

She snorts a laugh at that, dipping her knees just a little as if he's not already hopelessly ensnared by the sight of her. "I know."

"You want to help me forget mine too?"

Kate smirks at that, striding towards him and tugging at the tie of his robe. It falls open and she casts her eyes down appreciatively, a lift to the corners of her mouth. Sometimes it does worry him. He's got ten years on Kate, and it shows.

Not that he struggles to keep up with her, and oh, he knows she's more than satisfied with his performance, but Kate's just so absolutely gorgeous that sometimes he doesn't quite know where to put himself. He wants her to be proud that he's hers, proud to walk hand in hand with him.

Because sometimes his gratitude threatens to choke him, and it might help to know she feels at least some of the same.

"Mm, I don't know if I want to. You look good in this suit, Castle." She glances up at him through her lashes, tracing delicate patterns onto his chest with her fingertips. "Maybe you could model it for me."

"Later, sure. Right now I just want to join in this skinny dipping thing you've got going on."

Kate grins at that, curling her fingers in his waistband and dragging his swim shorts down his thighs. They pool at his feet and he stumbles trying to free himself from them, has to clutch at Kate to stay upright. Damn, even just the proximity of her body is enough to severely impede his basic motor functions.

They need to get in the water right now. Where he can be smooth and suave and make it good for her. Oh yeah, Kate. He's wanted her here for two years now. He's got a whole litany of fantasies circling in his brain, just waiting for him to finally fulfil them.

Castle breaks away from her and moves for the steps, easing down into the water. It's deliciously warm, sends a frisson of pleasure through him, and he wades back a couple of feet to give Kate room. Instead, she sits at the edge and drops her feet into the water, leaning back on her hands.

He moves in to stand between her legs and she grins, draping her arms over his shoulders and sliding into the pool. So sinfully slowly that he feels every inch of her like silk as she brushes against him, the full length of her meeting his body as her feet hit the bottom.

She kisses him, tart with mischief, and then before he knows what's happening she's pushing on his shoulders to duck him underneath the water.

He stays down for a long moment, watches the dreamscape of the world above his head, and then he comes up gasping to a hard edge of real concern on Kate's face. And that just won't do.

Now is not the time for seriousness. Castle flicks his fingers against the surface of the water and sends a great spray of it up to hit Kate's face, kicking back from the wall so he's halfway across the pool by the time she's blinked her vision to clarity.

She gets a wicked glint in her eyes and disappears, her body svelte and wonderful as she dips under the surface of the water. He watches the streak of her, golden lines capped with a mess of brown like flames. Kate breaks the surface right next to him, surging up with her hands at his shoulders and using the momentum to keep going, wrap her forever legs around his hips.

Castle gets his hands at her waist to keep her there, grinning into her kisses and peppering his own down the line of her throat. "You trying to drown me, Detective Beckett?"

"No. Just trying to take your breath away."

He snorts at that (really, Kate? Such an awful line) and strides across the pool until her back bumps up against the tile, the water lapping at the cave of her navel.

And then he dives for her mouth, and Kate stops teasing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Murder He Rewrote**

* * *

When Kate wakes up, it's to the brush of tender fingers at the mountain range of her spine like gathering snow and the cool touch of a mouth at her shoulder. She turns her face into the pillow and lifts a hand, still so satiated from last night that it feels entirely disconnected, her wrists thin and brittle as wire.

Oh, _last night_.

Attentive and passionate and thorough, Castle unravelled her from the core outwards until her skin hummed with static charge and her words scattered in the breeze of his touch, beyond coalescence. After the pool – she's hyperaware of the blossoming haematoma between her shoulder blades - and then again in the shower as they rinsed off the chlorine, Rick took her to bed.

And of course it's intense every time (their first night, the first time he sank into her, she cried into his shoulder) but it's never, _ever _been quite like that. The things he did to her.

The things she did to _him_.

Kate is startled to find her hand still floating in the middle of the sheets, manages to scrape together enough awareness to anchor it against Castle's chest. She cracks an eye open to see him propped up on one elbow as he watches her, his fingers still ghosting over the skin of her back.

It's been hours, and still the contact sends frissons of pleasure through her, just tiptoeing the line between ecstasy and agony. "Don't touch me."

He snatches his hand away as if she's burned him and Kate huffs a sigh, rolls onto her back and reaches up to rake her fingernails over the dark scatter of stubble at his jaw, his neck.

"I can't handle it. You've ruined me."

"Really, still?" He hums, lifting an eyebrow at her as he clasps his hands and settles them pointedly in his lap. And oh, thank God the sheets pool around his waist and cover all the necessary parts of him. She absolutely can't take any more, but the sight of him makes her mouth go dry and her whole body ache with need every time.

"Mm. What happened to the bathrobes?"

"I think they're still outside. You know, from when we skinny dipped?" He leers at her, curling his fingers around her hip so the whole of his forearm rests low at her abdomen, the pressure a thick and dragging weight that tugs her brain down and away until she can't do more than squirm underneath him.

He laughs at her, damn him, but he bends to press a chaste kiss to her forehead and then slips out from under the sheets. "I'll get them. Don't move. I'm really enjoying this whole 'there's no case so yes let's lounge in bed' thing."

"You still want to lounge even if we cover up?"

Castle falters in the doorway and makes his eyebrows dance at her, gloriously naked. A flush crawls up from the base of her throat and Kate rolls onto her stomach, propping her chin in the cup of her palm to watch him. And of course he sees, the delight leaching into his words. "Well, we can still snuggle, right?"

"I don't want to spend all day in bed." Kate says, pressing her mouth into a seam. She can't stop the fissures of laughter at the corners of her eyes though. Not that she'd ever really want to.

He nudges the door open with his hip, shooting her a long look rich with so much lust that Kate finds her hips shifting against the mattress entirely without her permission.

"I want to take you to brunch, Kate Beckett."

And then he's gone, leaving her to roll over and arch her back, settling down again and curling up in contentment. If this is what life is like with him-

Well. Needless to say, the rest of her body is entirely in agreement with her heart on this one.

When he comes back, he's already wearing his own robe and he passes hers over without complaint. Kate shrugs her way into it and mirrors him, laying on her back on top of the sheets with her hands clasped against her abdomen. Demure and separate.

"So I've been thinking about the next Nikki Heat." He starts, and Kate has to sink her teeth into her bottom lip to stifle the laughter. Really, Castle? Why don't they just discuss baseball stats?

"Mm?"

"I have the plot kind of half-formed. But there are some inconsistencies. Can we talk it out?"

A frisson of pleasure rolls through her at that. Sometimes she forgets, momentarily, that this is her favourite author. This is the man who's made her laugh and cry with his words, taught her how to hold together the jagged edges of herself. And now he's asking for her opinion.

Of course, of course, she loves when he discusses Nikki with her. But right now, the thought of puzzling out a homicide makes her want to groan and tug her pillow to cover her face. "Castle, I'm on vacation. If I wanted to think about a murder I would have stayed in the city."

"Right. Sorry." There's a pause where she can hear him thinking, his brain ticking over the facts. "I think I might have the guy die in Nikki's backyard. And then the cops find some meth head and attribute it to him just because it's convenient."

"This is not my case."

"Still, as cases go you have to admit it's pretty weak." He says, huffing a sigh that smacks of frustration. It's adorable, honestly, and all her annoyance melts away just like that.

Kate lifts her head from the pillow to look at him, her forehead entrenched with frown lines a moment until she lies back again. "If you keep obsessing over this it's going to ruin the weekend."

Castle holds his hands up in supplication and sighs out, the work of Kate's mouth as she contemplates exactly how long he's going to take to kiss her going right over his head.

"So what do we do?"

Mm, yes, here's her window of opportunity. A smile scrawls its way across her mouth and she rolls over, stretching the length of her body against his own. "Maybe you just try putting it out of your mind?"

Coming in to kiss him, Kate falters as he turns his head and gesticulates again, for once ignoring the siren call of her open mouth so close to his own.

"But what about the gun? They'd have found the gun on him."

"Castle," Kate sets her palm against his cheek and turns him to look at her. "That's not putting it out of your mind."

She leans in for a more successful kiss this time, presses her mouth to his like scattered punctuation to the words that still trip free from him. "You're right, I'm obsessing. I won't obsess."

"Okay." Kate grins, coming back for a longer kiss. He curls his fingers around her shoulder to keep her close, his tongue sweeping inside and sending a shower of lust cascading through her whole body until her toes curl.

When he pulls back, it's to rest his mouth against her cheek and haul her body closer, his hips shifting under her weight. "Can we do brunch now? I'm actually really pretty hungry."

Kate opens her mouth to protest, tell him this first, but her stomach growls its own contribution before she gets a chance. He grins but lets her have it, doesn't say anything. She rolls off of his body and climbs out of bed, kneels down next to the suitcase she never even bothered to open last night.

Yeah, actually, she could really use a shower. She grabs the bag with her toiletries and picks out clothes for today, disappears into the bathroom and shuts the door on his eager face.

"Not a chance in hell, Castle."

* * *

Okay, so he really, _really_ adores vacation Kate. He might have said that already, but it's no less true.

She's wearing this halter shirt that's sort of tie-dyed in white and blue and purple with these white capris that smooth over every delicious curve and plane of her and really, how is he supposed to focus on anything when shadow pools at her clavicles and calls out for the touch of his mouth?

Across the table from him at the little breakfast café he and Alexis have been coming to religiously since his daughter was no more than a tiny slip of a girl who curled on his lap and called him Daddy, Kate Beckett is laughing at his jokes.

All of them, even the terrible ones that make his cheeks flame because he can't actually believe he's even allowing himself to say that. She still laughs, full and bright and rich. And every time, all of the other customers turn to gaze at her, this gorgeous divination of God that has somehow stumbled into their local café.

"So, I got in trouble with Mother and Alexis for not having a plan. There was some mention of things to do under the stars, but I think we checked that one off the list pretty thoroughly last night, right?"

The waitress appears at his shoulder right as he finishes talking and Kate's cheeks flame. She carefully avoids his gaze as she orders and waits for him to do the same, watching the poor girl walk away for a long moment before she pins him in place with her gaze.

"Not that I didn't enjoy it. . .thoroughly, but can we not discuss it in public?" She huffs, sipping at her ice water and leaning back in the seat. Her spine arches and her breasts strain a little against the material of her shirt and it's just completely unfair that she's still so capable of taking him apart like this.

He takes a long swallow of his own water, eyes closed so he doesn't have to see her watching him, and the slide of cool relief down his throat startles him into clarity. Right. What was he saying?

"Anyway, so I was thinking after we eat we could just wander around the town for a little while? I don't get a chance to often; Alexis always wants to go back to the pool or the beach."

Kate's whole face floods with light as she grins at him, settling her hand over top of his where he rests it on the table. Her thumb circles and she nods, starlings careening across the soft mist of sky behind her. "Sure. Yeah, show me all your favourite places."

Their server returns with the food and Kate turns her smile up to the girl, drawing out a startled echo onto the teenager's freckled face. "Thank you so much."

"Um, enjoy your food." The girl stutters, hurrying back to the kitchen, and Castle can't help but laugh.

"It's really not fair when you do that, you know."

Kate lifts an eyebrow at him and spears a grape with her fork, sliding it past her lips with so much deliberation he just knows she's doing it on purpose. Mm, okay Kate. Keep this up, that's fine. He'll just continue working on his many, many ideas for payback.

"Making us mere mortals feel so inferior."

He gets an eye roll for that and she busies herself with her fruit salad, doesn't deign to comment. She's got waffles too but she doesn't touch them yet, apparently finding the multitude of torturously sensual ways she can pick at the fruit much more entertaining.

Castle shovels pancake into his mouth with abandon, his stomach a hollowed-out, angry thing. Hmm, yeah, she thoroughly exhausted him. His phone rings and he has to swallow hard, struggling not to choke as he swipes across the screen to accept the call.

"Castle."

"Hey Castle." Ryan's voice greets him, and Kate must hear because she lifts startled eyes to his and sets her fork carefully down against the table top. "Yeah, I'm gonna put you on speakerphone so you can weigh in on this."

"Weigh in on what?" Rick muses, his free hand sliding across the table so he can tangle his fingers with Kate's and grin stupidly at her. He flicks his own phone to speaker and prays that Kate will have the good sense not to say anything.

Ryan sounds almost gleeful and it draws Castle's attention away from his partner, curiosity spiking in his stomach. "Well we're in the morgue with Lanie trying to figure out who Beckett's boyfriend is."

Kate sits up a little, sends a startled glance from his phone to his face and back. He lifts a hand, a subtle reminder that she absolutely has to be quiet.

"I have nothing to do with this nonsense." Lanie's voice cuts out, impatient as ever with the boys' antics.

"Yeah, until you're bagging their mangled bodies when Beckett finds out." Castle says, inordinately pleased with the grin he earns himself for that. She looks almost _proud_ of him and it sends a hot wash of need through his gut.

"Like we're afraid of Beckett." Esposito says over the line and Rick winces, glances at Kate to gauge her reaction to that.

"Besides, how's she gonna find out?" Ryan adds and Kate scowls, reaches out to snatch his phone from him. He yanks it away from her just in time, gives her a long look.

"I don't know who Beckett's dating, guys. I just know that-" Castle glances at his girlfriend's face, gives her a tender smile that she returns even with the thrum of irritation at her jaw. "That he makes her really happy. So maybe we should just let her be? I'm sure she'll tell us when she's ready."

There's a moment of silence on the line and then Esposito speaks up, voice heavy with suspicion. "Dude, why are you so calm about this? You're seriously okay with Beckett dating another guy?"

"I'm okay with anything that makes Beckett happy." Castle says slowly, picking his words carefully from the bunch that crowd his tongue. "And if that's someone other than me, then that's okay. She deserves to be happy."

"And you're just going to watch?" Ryan surmises, a lift of disbelief to his words.

Kate clutches at his hand, her eyes so dark with sorrow it's like a storm rolling in to greet him. "Beckett is my best friend. I love what we do at the precinct, I love being there and I don't want to give that up. So yes, I'm going to watch. I'd rather have her in my life as a friend than not at all."

Both of the boys go quiet at that, Lanie silenced too in the background, and Castle grits his teeth against the knot of pain in his chest. It's all just too familiar, their pity, having to watch as someone else got to be the one to make Kate smile. It's too sharp a reminder.

"Now if you'll excuse me guys, I really have to get back to work."

He hangs up and drops his phone back to the tabletop, his eyes darting to Kate's face at the quiet keening she lets out. "_Castle_."

"Sorry about that."

Close to tears, Kate half-falls out of her chair and rounds the table, snagging his hand to pull him up. She drops a fistful of bills to the table and doesn't look back, tugging him along after her. And then she's shoving him up against the side of a building and kissing him like she's trying to prove a point.

Her tongue is this scalding, slick thing he can't even keep track off; every time he tries to give it back he finds she's already moved on. She kisses him until her chest heaves against his and she has to stop to suck in air.

"I'm so sorry that I did that to you, Castle. I'm so sorry I made you watch."

He manages to get his hands up to cup her cheeks, his forehead falling into hers. "It's okay. Honestly, Kate, I wouldn't have even minded if I'd thought that Josh actually made you happy."

"No one-" Kate cuts herself off, shaking her head as if she can't believe he could be so stupid. "No one has ever made me as happy as you do."

"I know. You make me happy too." He beams at her. She must read the truth all over his face because she steps back, slides her hand into his but doesn't clutch at him. A loose hold to fluctuate with the movement of their bodies. "Can we go explore?"

"Okay."

Oh no. No, Kate. "Stop frowning. Hey, come here." Castle curls an arm around her waist to draw her in close, brushing his mouth to her temple, her cheekbone. "All of that stuff with Josh doesn't matter now. Look, we're finally in the Hamptons together. We made it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Murder He Rewrote**

* * *

"Can we go in here?"

Kate follows his gaze to a tiny store squeezed between a chain bookstore and a thrift shop, the facade warped-looking as if it really did have to nudge its way into the gap. There's no name, no exterior clue as to what it might hold, but she trusts him.

"Sure." She tips her chin up on a smile, enjoying the difference in height between them. He loves the heels, but he's never been shy about loving her this way too. Flats or bare feet or a stolen pair of his socks, he likes to tuck her in close to his body. Not overbearing, not trying to lessen her status. Castle just wants to wrap her up in the soft touch of his love.

"I've never been inside." He says, and it sends a great leap of joy through her. Because of course he knows what it means to her to get to share in his firsts.

There aren't many left to her. Not the first woman he's loved or the first to marry him. She won't be the mother of his first child. But this, this he can give her. The small moments.

Kate tugs him over to the door of the little store and pushes it open, turning back to see him bordered by the doorframe. The sky is a hard cobalt at his back, the lick of sunlight around him turning the width of his chest into a great swathe of shadow.

Inside, there are shelves and baskets and boxes overflowing with such an enormous assortment of things that Kate has to take a stumbling step backwards, comes crashing up against Castle behind her.

He sets his mouth against her ear and his hands at her hips, his words sweet with joy. "Wow. A goldmine, hm?"

"Yeah. Wow." Kate breathes, stepping over to a basket that spills over with what look from here to be vintage postcards. Castle detaches himself from her and wanders over to a darker corner of the store. She takes a quiet moment to watch him go and then she's ensnared by the cards in front of her.

They're all second hand. All of them have already been written on, the basket like a museum of spidery handwriting through the past hundred or so years. It's so completely fascinating to see the huge variety of things people saw fit to mention about their vacations, the endearments and the private jokes long buried.

Rifling through the stack of postcards, Kate finds herself getting so caught up in the stories they have to tell that she completely loses track of where Castle is, startles hard at the touch of his hands at her waist.

"These are cool." He grins, sliding one arm around her waist to keep her close as he picks up a card. Kate turns to look at him, her mouth skimming his jaw, and just that soft touch has his hips nudging against hers more insistently.

"Yeah."

"You find any good ones?"

Kate steps free from his grip and sets the stack in her hand back into the basket, lacing her fingers through Castle's. "I think they're all good in their way."

"Of course. Every story matters, right? Come see this."

Castle leads her over to another stand, the bureau dark and majestic with age. He points out a basket of rings and Kate rifles through it, frees a couple and sets them on the counter. And even though it's stupid, even though Castle's breath condenses in the slope of her neck, she can't help but try one on. It fits her middle finger and she stretches her hand out to admire it.

"You like it?"

She nods, twists her wrist to get a look at a different angle. "Yeah. It's quirky, different. Has a history. I like that."

"Can I buy it for you?" He says, so tentative that she can't help but kiss him. Silly man.

"Okay. Thank you."

There's a card underneath the basket that Castle tugs free, his chest stuttering on a barely-contained gasp as he sees what's written on it.

_Engagement rings._

And of course he's expecting her to backtrack, say she doesn't want it anymore. But she likes it, and even more than that she likes the slackening of his face when she manages to surprise him.

"Good job it doesn't fit on that finger, hmm?"

He chokes a little, gapes at her, and then he seems to finally get it together. "Yeah. Good job."

* * *

Hand in hand, they step through an archway formed by a canopy of leaves, the branches of two adjacent trees leaning in to meet like old friends. The leaves just brush the top of Kate's head; Castle has to stoop slightly to fit underneath. And then they come onto a pathway, lined with a sentry row of more trees on either side.

Underneath their feet is a paving stone, smooth and carefully maintained granite etched with a name and two dates.

"Castle, tell me we're not standing on a grave right now?"

He darts in to kiss her, leading her by the hand down the pathway. "No. It's sort of a timeline, I guess. Each one has the name of a pastor from the church and the years they were pastor."

"What church?" Kate murmurs, and then they round the corner to see the chapel rise up in front of them. Clad in pristine white siding, the lawn rolling down to meet them and sending grass to dust its sharp edges at their ankles. "_Oh_."

"It's pretty, huh?"

"It's _breath-taking_. Can we go inside?" Kate blinks up at him, her whole face alight with her grin, and Castle's own mouth curves up like a reflection.

He pushes open the door and ushers her inside, strides all the way down to the pulpit. Turning back, a hum of surprise sits under his tongue as he sees Kate still hovering in the entryway. From the stained glass window above his head a vibrant rainbow splashes onto the hardwood of the aisle, enticing and so warm he wants to strip off his shoes and socks and paddle in it.

When she tears her gaze away from the noticeboard he sees even from the lectern the jolt that tears through her at the sight of him at the other end of an aisle. He expects her to beckon him over or step back outside or something. Definitely, definitely doesn't expect the coy smile she shoots him from under the fall of her hair, the measured steps she takes until she reaches him.

Catching her up in his arms, Castle dips his mouth down to sip at hers, bending her backwards just a little. His arm bands strong around her back and he pulls her up straight again, settles his forehead against hers. "What were you looking at?"

"The advertisements. What's the _Hamptons Sand Bar_? Everything seems to happen there."

Okay. So they're not going to talk about what just happened. How perfect it felt to have Kate walk down the aisle with her whole face opened on a smile and her eyes fixed only on him. That's fine. "A popular local watering hole."

She lifts an eyebrow and he grins, fixes her with his best leer. "Can I buy you a drink?"

She laughs at him, of course, but underneath he sees the hot thread of lust shifting in her eyes. Mm-hmm, Kate Beckett. He's not the only one consumed with desperate need.

He gets to hook his arm through hers and walk her back down the aisle and try desperately not to think about it. Just. . .don't even think about it. Too dangerous.

The bar is only a short walk away and he gets to meander along the sidewalk with Kate's hand firmly encased in his own. The afternoon sunlight gets caught in her curls so she seems almost dripping with it, every time she moves her head the luminescent drops fly around her face.

She's slower here than she is in the city, quite content to wander along with him, no real destination in mind. And of course, it's Kate. So she wants to go into every store, explore just as thoroughly as he does. In fact, he hasn't really done an awful lot this morning other than watch Kate's reaction to every new detail, the aspects of this place unfurling and offering themselves up to her like pearls.

Suddenly it's vital that she know.

"Hey Kate?" He brings them to a stop, reaching up to brush her hair back and cradle her cheek. "Thanks."

"For what?" She murmurs, gentle fingers settling at his waist. Her whole face opens up on a tender smile and she comes in to kiss him, the brush of her mouth entirely distracting.

"I've never done this before. Just gotten to be lazy and explore and enjoy the quiet. I mean obviously I've looked around before but not. . .like this. So thank you."

Kate pushes another kiss against his mouth and then steps back, curling her fingers against his palm. "I'm really glad to get to do this with you."

They start walking again and Castle doesn't try to battle back his smile, surprised at the rush of contentment in his gut. Nothing more needs to be said. She just gets it, always has. It's one of the things he loves most about her.

At the bar, he gets to hold the door for her and then settle his palm at the dip of her spine to follow her over to the counter. She settles her hips against the bar and turns to him, raising an eyebrow.

Right, yeah, he's supposed to be buying her a drink. Okay.

"Two scotch, please." He says to the bartender, hears the quiet hum of pleasure Kate lets out. Good, so at least he picked the right drink.

She likes wine after dinner, likes to curl up on the couch and share a bottle with him after a tough case. And then he gets the soft and pliant body of tipsy Kate as she crawls into his lap and sinks down, pillages at his mouth. But he knows she enjoys whisky too once in a while.

The bartender sets the two tumblers in front of them and Castle curls his fingers around his own, waits for Kate to do the same before he nudges his glass against hers and grins. "Cheers."

"Cheers." She echoes, moving away from the bar towards a quiet little table next to the window. When he sits down, Kate braces a palm against the table and leans in to kiss him softly, a sharp hint of mischief in the work of her tongue. "Thanks for the drink."

"I've been thinking." He starts, his mouth apparently having completely forgotten about its connection to the rest of him, the parts that can do things like think rationally and analyse the possible outcomes of the stupid things he says. "What we talked about at brunch, about Josh. I think I should definitely shoulder some of the blame for that whole situation. I mean, I was with my ex-wife when you met him, right? It's not like I was pining after you."

Yes, okay, so that's pretty much a lie. Even when he was with Gina, he could never quite scrub the image of Kate out of his mind. There were times in bed with his ex-wife when he had to clamp his jaw closed in case he accidentally groaned the wrong name.

Kate covers his hand with her own against the table top, shakes her head at him. "It doesn't matter anymore. I think we're both equally to blame. And I think we should just let it go. I mean, we're here now right?"

"We're here now." He agrees, shifting his chair over so he can let the warmth of her body soak through his shirt. Kate leans into him, her head settling into the curve between his neck and shoulder. It still surprises him every time she does this.

He's finding it hard to reconcile the previous four years of observing her at the precinct with the tangible evidence that Kate Beckett likes to snuggle.

"You come here often?" She hums, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Castle drains the rest of his glass, sets it back on the table and leans back in his chair. He curls an arm around her shoulder and watches the lap of the water against the harbour wall, the quiet shift of boats lulled to sleep. "Yeah. I like the view, and the food here is excellent. Alexis and Mother and I have enjoyed many a meal. We could eat here tonight if you wanted?"

"No. I want to cook for you tonight." She grins, kisses the cleft of his chin. Way off in the distance, gulls sweep against the canvas of sky like snatches of shadow and yachts sit cradled in the smudged edge of the horizon.

"Okay. Yeah. You can cook for me. You need to get any ingredients?"

Kate laughs, full-bodied and victorious. "No, I think you already have everything I could possibly need."

"Right." He smirks, and then his cell phone rings and he tugs it free from his pocket, shows Kate the caller ID.

"You'd better answer it."

Damn. Castle threads his fingers through the gaps in Kate's own, a frisson of pleasure winding through him at the clash and tangle of their knuckles, and then he presses accept. "Esposito, hi."

"Hey bro. We've put calls in to my sources in robbery, see if Beckett's back with Demming."

Rick wants so badly to roll his eyes at that. Seriously, guys? "Demming? Come on, Beckett can do so much better."

She glares at him over the rim of her glass and he backtracks, ignores Esposito's incessant talk in his ear. "Uuuh, thank you for the update. I gotta go."

"Why are you even helping them?" Kate says, settling her glass back at the table and folding her arms. It's a little terrifying when she looks at him like this. Like she's going to extract all of his secrets slowly and painfully. And maybe his organs too.

"Oh come on, the good news is they're completely fooled about us."

Kate shakes her head, some of the earlier hurt manifesting in the hard edge of tension at her jaw. "Well I don't understand why they even care."

"Meh, why do people care about Brangelina?"

Kate curls her fingers and smirks at him, leaning back in her chair to watch him. "Oh so we're Brangelina now?"

"No, no no, we're Rickate." Oh jeez, that's terrible. Castle wrinkles his nose in disgust, glad to see Kate frowning too. "No we're Kate-ick." She tilts her head at him, and he has to agree. That's probably worse. "Caskett? Ooh that's good cos of the whole murder thing. Caskett."

Opening her mouth to respond (agree, hopefully), Kate snaps it right back closed again at a voice from over his shoulder.

"Rick Castle!"

Oh jeez. He's on vacation. And one of the things he loves so much about the Hamptons is that no one cares here. It doesn't matter that he's something of a celebrity. People let him alone. People let his daughter alone, more importantly. This is their sanctuary.

Kate _kicks him_, vicious and entirely hidden under the table, and he shoots her a glare before he turns to see just who exactly seems to know him.

"Vinnie." Castle beams, standing up from his chair to shake the other man's hand. Kate stands too and comes around to his side, settling close like she's looking to claim him. He likes it.

Mm-hmm, he likes being claimed by Kate Beckett a whole lot.

"Kate, this is Vincent Cardano." To her credit, none of Kate's hesitation shows as she reaches out to shake Vinnie's hand. Of course she knows exactly who he is, but she doesn't let it show, and God he loves her for it.

"Katherine Beckett." She offers, and Vinnie's eyes widen as he rakes his gaze over her.

Alright, enough. Castle settles a possessive hand at the curve of Kate's spine, decides she's probably going to shoot him anyway so he might as well risk the press of his mouth to her cheek.

"This is the girlfriend? You know, Sal told me you're a changed man since you met her."

A flush crawls across his cheeks, entirely not helped by the smirk that Kate turns up to him. "Ah- Sal is Vinnie's cousin and a friend of mine. He's actually been pushing me to get together with Vinnie for years."

"I don't want to interrupt your time with your woman, Ricky." Vinnie says, and Castle feels the ripple of tension through Kate.

"Actually, why don't you come over to Castle's place for dinner tonight?"

Vinnie grins, reaches for Kate's hand again and shakes it vigorously. "I'd like that. See you tonight, then?"

"Sure, tonight." Holy shit, did he just squeak? Most likely yes, if the look Beckett levels on him is any indication. Vinnie says his goodbyes and leaves them alone and Kate moves towards the door, carefully not looking at him.

Once outside, he curls two fingers into the soft flesh of her palm and brings her up against him. "What the hell was that? You just invited Vinnie the Scar to dinner."

"I know." Kate bites her lip, meandering towards the dock without even seeming to realise.

"The head of the Cardano crime family." Castle whines, tugging at her hand to get her to slow down a little. He's half afraid she's going to fling herself into the harbour, so entrenched in her own mind she probably wouldn't even notice before the calm edges of the water closed over her head.

"I _know_. I just. . .wanted to prove that just because we're dating doesn't mean we have to ignore everyone else." She shrugs, stopping at the very end of the dock and leaning against the balustrade.

Castle curls his body around her own and dips down to kiss the milky slope of her neck. "Okay. That's fine. It'll be good to get it over with. And it'll be delayed gratification. Make the end result even more intense."

A shiver tears through Kate's body and she glances over her shoulder at him, her eyes darkening so rapidly it's like ink spilling out from her pupils. "Do you have a boat?"

"Do I have a- _no_, why?"

"Never mind." She shrugs, turning back to watch the soft brush of waves against the legs of the pier. Castle curls an arm around her waist, slipping up to brush his fingers to the underside of her breast. She _lets him_, and he immediately decides that he needs to get her someplace very private, very fast.

"Would you like to get a boat? We could spend the rest of the afternoon boat shopping."

Kate shrugs free from his grip just to roll her eyes at him, the corners of her mouth lifting just slightly. "What would we do with a boat?"

"Oh, so many things."

* * *

**A/N: Just a reminder that I'm spoiler free, so please don't mention the sneaks or anything like that in your reviews! Thank you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Murder He Rewrote**

* * *

"Hey, so the Bridgehamptons Polo Semifinals are today." Castle says into Kate's cheek, nudging her to settle more comfortably against the balustrade. The sunlight hums just underneath the surface of her skin, makes her loose and fluid and so gorgeous in the way she arches against him.

"Oh?"

Shifting around to her mouth, Castle presses a soft kiss to her lips and smiles against her. His hands settle in the curves of her waist and he slips his thumbs down to smooth over the bare skin just below the hem of her shirt. "Uh huh. It's open to public viewing, so we could go watch if you wanted?"

"Really, Castle? You want to spend our time watching polo? I figured you'd be pretty desperate to take me back to the house." She raises an eyebrow, the tip of her tongue just poking between her teeth and he comes in to touch his own to it, laughs at her grunt of protest.

"I like to do things with you that don't involve sex, too. I want to share everything with you, not just my bed."

He shrugs, tries to play it off as unimportant even though he knows what it means. Of course she knows, or at least he has to hope she does, but Kate isn't a conquest. Kate is. . .everything. Castle dusts his thumb over her cheekbone and drops down to take her hand, shifting away from the railing. And he doesn't have to tug at her, doesn't even have to say anything, she just comes right up alongside him.

"I know." She says, hair limned with gold as he glances down at her. "Me too. But polo, really?"

"Can we at least go see the club? It's pretty cool." He grins, delighted to see the stretch of her own mouth in echo. Kate's fingers wriggle in his grip and she nods to one of the signs tacked up to the lamppost, stopping to read it properly. It offers directions to the tournament and she turns back over her shoulder to glance at him.

"You know where we're going?"

"Yeah. Went with Alexis a couple years back."

Kate takes a moment to consider that and then she nods, stretches up onto tiptoe to set her mouth to his jaw. Her touch sends flares of warmth scattering through him and he sets his palm at the curve of her spine to keep her close.

"Okay. Let's go."

* * *

It's crazy busy, more so than Kate ever would have anticipated. A stream of cars that have been rerouted from town and the cops here are on point, calm and in control. Kate's impressed.

But then, she supposes this is more what they're used to than the inner-city grit she has to contend with every day. She can't imagine they deal with too many murders out here.

"Excuse me," Castle's saying to one of the cops, "are we okay just to have a quick look inside? I just wanted to show my, uh- my partner what the clubhouse is like."

He shoots a glance back at Kate and she steps up to his side, curls a lazy arm around his waist. There's a frisson of pleasure that hums all through her at being able to touch him like this outside of the amniotic safety of their apartments. To be allowed to love him in front of other people.

"Mr Castle, I'd love to let you and your. . .companion look around. Just tell them that Chief Brady sent you."

Whoa, hey, who does this guy think she is? Does he think she's- "I'm not a _prostitute_."

"Oh, I'm sure." The chief says, sending her a condescending look and then turning his back on her entirely to face Castle again.

Kate sends him an icy look over the chief's shoulder and he swallows hard, shakes his head. "She's not. This is my girlfriend."

"I'll have to add her to the register, so name please."

"Katherine Beckett, but can we keep that off the record?" Kate says, has to stifle her laughter at the way Castle flounders behind Chief Brady.

The chief smirks, glances down at his clipboard. "Right. Richard Castle and. . ._guest_."

Kate opens her mouth to argue with him, defend her honour or something equally futile, and then Castle's curling his fingers inside of her elbow and dragging her away. "Thanks Chief. I owe you one."

Inside of the gate, Kate brings them to a stumbling stop and tugs him out of the way of the foot traffic, hands falling to her hips almost by accident. "Castle, he thinks I'm a prostitute."

"So what?" Rick does his best to placate her, running soothing palms over her biceps and damn him, it works. "_I _know how amazing you are. What does it matter what he thinks?"

Kate lifts an eyebrow, pins him with her gaze. "It doesn't bother you that he thinks you use escorts?"

"As long as he keeps it to himself, I don't care what he thinks. I'm used to people having unfounded opinions about me, occupational hazard."

And that sort of breaks her heart a little. Especially since she doesn't often tell him how she feels, lets most of their relationship float on a surface of teasing and banter. "Castle, you know I think you're pretty great, right?"

He laughs at that, shakes his head. "Here I am, hopelessly in love with you, and all I get in return is _pretty great_."

It takes a moment for his words to catch up to him and then they do, hitting him like a freight train and he gapes at her, jaw slack with shock. "Kate, I don't- I didn't mean- I'm not trying to-"

"Rick." She curls her arms at his neck and presses the length of her body to his, kisses him just to make him shut the hell up. "It's okay. You're allowed to say it. It's not a secret."

"Okay." His smile consumes his whole face, draws lines of mirth around his eyes and mouth and dips down to his shoulders. They lift in delight and he kisses her again, cradles the curve of her skull in his palm. "Okay. I hope you realise that you've opened the floodgates now."

"Good. I like hearing it." Kate murmurs, dropping back onto flat feet and reaching for his hand again. "And Castle? I love you too."

She has to bite back a laugh when he becomes a dead weight on the end of her arm, frozen in place as she tries to move off. The look on his face? Completely worth the wait.

* * *

"I'm going to go shower." Kate calls through from the bedroom and he staggers through the door in time to see her shedding her clothes and disappearing into the bathroom.

Mm, the wine can wait. This right here is far more appealing. He peels off his own clothes and leaves them pooled with hers on the bedroom floor, following her right through into the shower stall.

There's no measure of surprise at his sudden warmth behind her, Kate simply turns in to his embrace and flicks the dial to start the water. It cascades down over them both, drops coalescing at the fringe of her lashes and sliding down between her breasts.

"Have I mentioned how devastatingly attractive you are?"

"Once or twice." She smirks, clutching at his ears to draw him down to her. She tastes amazing, his world collapsed down to fit between the corners of her mouth and so much bare skin to press his hands to. Yesterday was so tender, so sweet, about proving to her that it doesn't matter who's been here before. She's here now.

Now, the hot bite of need simmers beneath his skin and he pushes her up against the tile, turning her around and nudging his knee between her thighs. Kate groans and reaches back for his hand, curling her fingers against his palm.

He needs her. Right now.

* * *

After their shower (she still doesn't entirely trust her legs to hold her up) Kate dries her hair into soft curls and slips into the sundress she brought. The cut of it doesn't allow for a bra and Castle comes back from shaving to dust his mouth to her bare shoulder, clutch at her hips.

"You look amazing."

Kate lifts an eyebrow and rakes her gaze over him, the deep purple button down always a good colour on him. Not bothering to comment, she touches her mouth to his and sits down at the vanity to reapply her makeup. "Would you just check on the food?"

"Sure. You want a drink?"

"That'd be great, thanks." Kate turns over her shoulder to accept his kiss, her palm settling against his cheek for a moment. She drums her fingers to his cheekbone and then drops her hand, nudges at him before he comes back in to kiss her harder. "Don't start. You'll ruin my makeup. And our guest will be here any minute."

"Right. Sorry."

He looks genuinely contrite, so much so that Kate curls her fingers at his wrist and reels him in, settles her temple at his sternum. "Don't be sorry. It's not exactly a problem that you want to kiss me. A lot."

Castle grins at that, drops a last kiss to the crown of her head before he leaves, and Kate turns back to the silly smile of her reflection framed in the mirror. Even now, months later, the fervent way he takes from her mouth sends wriggly little seeds of delight scattering all through her gut. He adores her, and she'd tease him about it if she weren't sure that she looks at him with equal reverence.

"Kate," his voice reaches her from the kitchen. "He's here, babe."

Raising an eyebrow at that, Kate stands and moves towards the front door, pinching his side as he comes up next to her. Probably a little too hard if the squeak he lets out is any indication, but he deserves it. He can't just go around throwing out endearments that make a blush crawl up her throat right before company arrives.

Castle opens the door and accepts Vinnie's handshake, grunting softly as the other man moves in to envelop Kate in a hug. She returns it, but the moment Cardano's arms drop she nudges her fingers through Rick's and shifts a little closer to his side.

"Vinnie, great to see you." Castle says, ushering Vinnie down the hall towards the dining room. "Wine?"

"Fantastic, thank you. And thanks for inviting me." Vinnie grins, sitting down where Kate gestures. She moves to join Castle in the kitchen and takes their dinner from the stove where she's been keeping it warm.

Castle wasn't allowed to help her cook, went instead to work on some ideas for the next Nikki novel. And so Kate got to enjoy the wide open space of his kitchen, singing along to the radio as she cooked and letting the last of her anxieties slip away.

Being here with him just feels so absolutely right.

At the table, Kate serves up the food for all of them and settles into her chair, sliding her foot along the floor until it hits Castle's. He jolts, turns to frown at her, and she shrugs.

"I'm glad we could finally get together, Ricky, salud. I'm sure that Sal told you I'm a big fan of your work so, to new friends." Vinnie says, his face softening out on a smile.

Kate offers her agreement, Rick echoing her, and the three of them nudge their glasses together in a toast. Sipping at her wine, Kate curls her hand over Castle's knee underneath the table. She doesn't want to mess with him too much, not in front of Vinnie, but there's a thrill to being able to touch him like this now.

How long she yearned to just take his hand or stretch up and kiss him, and now here they are.

Vinnie takes a mouthful of pasta, swallows it down on a sigh before he speaks. "Ah sweetie, this meat sauce is to die for."

"Thank you, Vinnie."

"Actually, it is excellent, I didn't know you could cook." Castle says, glancing at her with something like awe plastered across his face. It's harder now to surprise him, after four years of him studying her, learning her. So when she is able to do it, she basks in the moment.

"You should pay a little more attention, Castle."

Vinnie laughs at the two of them, leaning back in his chair to rake his eyes over her. "Oh see that's the difference between Castle and me, you've had my complete attention since I've been here sweetheart."

"Whoa whoa, watch it Vinnie." Castle splutters, narrowing his eyes at the other man. "Kate's taken."

Cardano laughs out loud at that, clasping his hands and shaking his head. "Relax, Ricky. I'm not trying to take your girl. The way she looks at you, I'd be an idiot to even attempt that."

And Kate doesn't even bother to school her features, simply leans in to the inquisitive tilt of Castle's head and touches her mouth to his own. "You're stuck with me, Castle."

"I know." He breathes, tucks the thick curl of her hair back behind her ear. They take a moment to breathe in each other's reassurance and then Castle shifts back from her, takes a long sip at his wine.

Kate darts a glance at Vinnie but he's watching them with barely-withheld amusement, shakes his head when he catches her looking. "Sal did ask me to report back on the woman who made you grow up."

"Oh, Vinnie, can you. . .keep this quiet? We're still trying to keep it a secret from our colleagues." Castle says, pouring more wine into all three of their glasses.

"Of course. Doesn't mean I'm not going to tell Sal all about it, though."

* * *

After Vinnie leaves, Castle ushers her through to the living room and settles next to her on the couch, uses a remote to dim the lights. It's a little sappy and she half wants to roll her eyes, but the lick of shadow over the planes of his face make her mouth dry and instead she leans in to kiss him.

"Mm, Kate. Thank you for coming out here with me." He murmurs against the thin skin at her neck, dipping down to taste the heat of her clavicle.

She clutches at the curve of his skull, cards her fingers through his hair and bites back a moan. "Thanks for inviting me. It's a gorgeous place."

"Made all the more gorgeous by having you here." He says, and before Kate can roll her eyes at that he's untying the knotted fabric at her shoulders and lowering his mouth to the rapidly-bared skin of her chest.

And then there's no more talking.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry for the ridiculous delay on this chapter; school has been crazy lately in terms of extra curriculars and homework. I'll try to get back to a more regular schedule. In the meantime, I'm pretty consistent with my post episode one shots, so check those out if you'd like. Thanks for your support.**


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